Can I Work with and Help Others in This Field? How Communal Goals Influence Interest and Participation in STEM Fields

“Pursuing communal goals helps fulfill needs for belonging (e.g., Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Fiske, 2004), connection (e.g., Deci and Ryan, 2000), and affiliation (e.g., Hill, 1987).”

“Therefore, complementing lessons of STEM concepts and skills with specific ways that these abilities and knowledge can improve the quality of lives or save lives can have great benefits for students (e.g., Freeman et al., 2014).”

“…that men are less likely to seek out communal roles because of gender stereotypes about who is and should be communal (e.g., Deaux and Major, 1987; Fiske et al., 2002; Wood and Eagly, 2002), concerns about how manly they will be perceived by others (e.g., Bosson and Vandello, 2011; Vandello and…”

“Communion and agency are key dimensions for judgments of the self and others (e.g., Judd et al., 2005; Abele andWojciszke, 2007; Fiske et al., 2007).”

“…to the workplace as collaboration with colleagues predicts scientific productivity (e.g., Landry et al., 1996; Lee and Bozeman, 2005) and having closer contact with people one helps at work relates to greater motivation and persistence in the workplace (e.g., Grant, 2007; Grant et al., 2007).”

“These benefits extend to the workplace as collaboration with colleagues predicts scientific productivity (e.g., Landry et al., 1996; Lee and Bozeman, 2005) and having closer contact with people one helps at work relates to greater motivation and persistence in the workplace (e.g., Grant, 2007;…”

“…likely to seek out communal roles because of gender stereotypes about who is and should be communal (e.g., Deaux and Major, 1987; Fiske et al., 2002; Wood and Eagly, 2002), concerns about how manly they will be perceived by others (e.g., Bosson and Vandello, 2011; Vandello and Bosson, 2012), and…”

“Indeed, Sofia Tomov does not fit people’s descriptions of computer scientists and engineers that include nerdy, socially awkward men who love science fiction and video games (e.g., Schott and Selwyn, 2000; Cheryan et al., 2009, 2013).”

“Members of these groups may opt out of STEM in favor of more communally-oriented fields in which they excel and that do not involve negative group stereotypes (e.g., Eccles, 1994; Wang et al., 2013).”

“Stereotypic perceptions of STEM fields are one of several important factors that explain patterns of group underrepresentation in STEM fields (e.g., American Association of University Women, 2010, 2015; Cheryan et al., 2017).”

“After lessons that show STEM’s communal possibilities, classroom activities that encourage students to make connections between STEM course material and their lives can further increase motivation and learning (e.g., Hulleman and Harackiewicz, 2009).”

“…(2015) review finds that men are less likely to seek out communal roles because of gender stereotypes about who is and should be communal (e.g., Deaux and Major, 1987; Fiske et al., 2002; Wood and Eagly, 2002), concerns about how manly they will be perceived by others (e.g., Bosson and…”

“Communion and agency are key dimensions for judgments of the self and others (e.g., Judd et al., 2005; Abele andWojciszke, 2007; Fiske et al., 2007).”

“To draw more female students into STEM, past work highlights the benefits of female role models (e.g., Dasgupta, 2011; Stout et al., 2011).”

“Work-life balance may also be a goal that is considered in occupational choice (Ceci et al., 2009; Weisgram and Diekman, 2015).”

“For example, valuing communal goals negatively predicts interest in engineering, environmental science, and computing even for people who feel that they are good at STEM (Diekman et al., 2010).”

“When individuals perceive these two groups are less varied, they are more willing to apply group stereotypes to individual members (e.g., Park and Rothbart, 1982; Park and Hastie, 1987; Park et al., 1991) and more likely to subtype individuals who do not fit the gender stereotypes of their group…”

“…the efforts we currently know to be helpful for recruiting and retaining women in STEM (e.g., American Association of University Women, 2015; Cheryan et al., 2015), our suggestions stem from the consideration of our argument for how communal goal incongruity affects women and men and, thus,…”

“…they are more willing to apply group stereotypes to individual members (e.g., Park and Rothbart, 1982; Park and Hastie, 1987; Park et al., 1991) and more likely to subtype individuals who do not fit the gender stereotypes of their group (e.g., Weber and Crocker, 1983; Rothbart and John, 1985).”

“…concerns about how manly they will be perceived by others (e.g., Bosson and Vandello, 2011; Vandello and Bosson, 2012), and possible status loss, social sanctions, and discrimination they may face by fulfilling communal roles and goals (e.g., Heilman and Wallen, 2010; Moss-Racusin et al., 2010).”

“Indeed, Sofia Tomov does not fit people’s descriptions of computer scientists and engineers that include nerdy, socially awkward men who love science fiction and video games (e.g., Schott and Selwyn, 2000; Cheryan et al., 2009, 2013).”

“Women, on average, tend to value communal goals more strongly than men (Evans and Diekman, 2009; Diekman et al., 2011).”

“To draw more female students into STEM, past work highlights the benefits of female role models (e.g., Dasgupta, 2011; Stout et al., 2011).”

“…Hispanic, andNative American students, bothmale and female, have less access to advanced STEM courses in high school (e.g., May and Chubin, 2003; Tyson et al., 2007; Perna et al., 2009) and are less likely to enter and receive degrees in STEM fields (e.g., National Science Foundation, 2015).”

“…8 | Article 901 Black, Hispanic, andNative American students, bothmale and female, have less access to advanced STEM courses in high school (e.g., May and Chubin, 2003; Tyson et al., 2007; Perna et al., 2009) and are less likely to enter and receive degrees in STEM fields (e.g., National Science…”

“…Hispanic, andNative American students, bothmale and female, have less access to advanced STEM courses in high school (e.g., May and Chubin, 2003; Tyson et al., 2007; Perna et al., 2009) and are less likely to enter and receive degrees in STEM fields (e.g., National Science Foundation, 2015).”

“Agentic motives are naturally important to achievement and success in STEM Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 3 May 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 901 (e.g., Diekman et al., 2017) and may also help individuals persist through the education necessary to pursue STEM careers.”

“Female role models are also particularly important to retaining women once they enter STEM; seeing the successes of other women in STEM can help prevent the threatening effects of stereotypes that shed doubt on women’s competencies in these fields (Drury et al., 2011; Stout et al., 2011).”

“Pursuing communal goals helps fulfill needs for belonging (e.g., Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Fiske, 2004), connection (e.g., Deci and Ryan, 2000), and affiliation (e.g., Hill, 1987).”

“Regardless of gender, beliefs that STEM fulfills communal goals predict undergraduates’ increased motivation to pursue a science career (Brown et al., 2015b).”

“…perceive these two groups are less varied, they are more willing to apply group stereotypes to individual members (e.g., Park and Rothbart, 1982; Park and Hastie, 1987; Park et al., 1991) and more likely to subtype individuals who do not fit the gender stereotypes of their group (e.g., Weber…”

“For instance, male and female undergraduates report that the physical sciences and mathematics allow fewer opportunities to work with and help others than careers in education, the social sciences, or medicine (Morgan et al., 2001).”

“…concerns about how manly they will be perceived by others (e.g., Bosson and Vandello, 2011; Vandello and Bosson, 2012), and possible status loss, social sanctions, and discrimination they may face by fulfilling communal roles and goals (e.g., Heilman and Wallen, 2010; Moss-Racusin et al., 2010).”

“These benefits extend to the workplace as collaboration with colleagues predicts scientific productivity (e.g., Landry et al., 1996; Lee and Bozeman, 2005) and having closer contact with people one helps at work relates to greater motivation and persistence in the workplace (e.g., Grant, 2007;…”

“Students do not often see the links to communal goals evident in STEM work (e.g., sustainability, food availability, medical innovations; Cunningham et al., 2005; National Academy of Engineering, 2008; Klotz et al., 2014).”

“Moreover, research shows that this mismatch can lower well-being and impede the academic success of first generation college students—individuals who are the first member of their family to pursue college (e.g., Stephens et al., 2012; Covarrubias and Fryberg, 2015).”

“Moreover, communal goals and activities are related to positive outcomes, such as greater social support, feeling more positive emotions, and less stress (e.g., Crocker and Canevello, 2008; Poulin et al., 2013; Poulin, 2014).”

“Although men exhibit lower averages than women, men still show relatively high levels of communal goal endorsement (e.g., Evans and Diekman, 2009; Diekman et al., 2011), demonstrating that men, too, value communal goals.”

“…could experience the worry and uncertainty tied to social identity threat when they believe that they could be viewed and evaluated negatively due to their non-conformity to the perceived norms and values of STEM fields and their gender (e.g., Murphy and Taylor, 2012; Boucher and Murphy, 2017).”

“In fact, STEM fields are rarely viewed as providing opportunities to improve lives or work with others, and, thus, the altruistic purposes that underlie so much of STEM work remain hidden (e.g., Diekman and Steinberg, 2013; Diekman et al., 2017).”

“…could experience the worry and uncertainty tied to social identity threat when they believe that they could be viewed and evaluated negatively due to their non-conformity to the perceived norms and values of STEM fields and their gender (e.g., Murphy and Taylor, 2012; Boucher and Murphy, 2017).”

“…for first generation college students, beliefs that science allows people to help others predict their science course interest, suggesting that perceptions that science does not fulfill communal goals may be particularly demotivating for first generation college students (Allen et al., 2015).”

“…are less varied, they are more willing to apply group stereotypes to individual members (e.g., Park and Rothbart, 1982; Park and Hastie, 1987; Park et al., 1991) and more likely to subtype individuals who do not fit the gender stereotypes of their group (e.g., Weber and Crocker, 1983;…”

“Goal congruity prompts a state of “motivational readiness” and a pleasant sense of fit (e.g., Kruglanski et al., 2014), whereas goal incongruity can inspire questions about how to achieve congruity, and this search often leads us to change or leave the environment.”

“Regardless of gender, beliefs that STEM fulfills communal goals predict undergraduates’ increased motivation to pursue a science career (Brown et al., 2015b).”

“Thus, having people who work in STEM fields communicate the valued communal aspects of their work reduces communal goal incongruity and increases STEM interest and the likelihood of pursuing these fields (e.g., Klotz et al., 2014).”

“This effort along with changes to curriculum and conference travel have resulted in the percentage of women graduating in computer science from 12% to around 40% in 5 years (Alvarado and Dodds, 2010; Alvarado and Judson, 2014).”

“…that emphasizes and rewards assertiveness and independence over connectedness and interdependence can lead to a perceived mismatch for racial and ethnic minority students; this mismatch can reduce belonging and impair performance in college (e.g., Fryberg and Markus, 2007; Fryberg et al., 2013).”

“However, these communally-oriented role models were perceived as particularly scarce in STEM relative to other fields, such as education or medicine (Fuesting and Diekman, 2017).”

“Indeed, Sofia Tomov does not fit people’s descriptions of computer scientists and engineers that include nerdy, socially awkward men who love science fiction and video games (e.g., Schott and Selwyn, 2000; Cheryan et al., 2009, 2013).”

“Moreover, communal goals and activities are related to positive outcomes, such as greater social support, feeling more positive emotions, and less stress (e.g., Crocker and Canevello, 2008; Poulin et al., 2013; Poulin, 2014).”

“Both men and women who demonstrate how their STEM careers allow them to pursue communal goals can effectively convey that STEM provides valued opportunities to pursue communal goals (Clark et al., 2016).”

“This effort along with changes to curriculum and conference travel have resulted in the percentage of women graduating in computer science from 12% to around 40% in 5 years (Alvarado and Dodds, 2010; Alvarado and Judson, 2014).”

“De-emphasizing group categories has additional benefits of reducing identity threat (e.g., Steele et al., 2002; Akcinar et al., 2011) and fostering a common ingroup identity that can result in bias reduction (e.g., Gaertner and Dovidio, 2000).”

“In addition, according to Boucher et al. (2017) and Brown et al. (2015), emphasising this personal-time-perspective in relation to science careers is important not only for girls, but also for boys, because regardless of students’ gender, students’ interest has been affected by their perception on…”

“Most importantly, recent studies have demonstrated that emphasizing the communal utility value of STEM could appeal to a wider range of college students, including traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM fields (Boucher et al., 2017; Brown et al., 2015).”

“Highlighting communal affordances in science or engineering contexts can benefit not only women but also men (see Boucher et al., 2017, for discussion).”

“Relating to the content, we propose that these role models focus on how these professions can contribute to society, showing innovations congruent with communal goals led by female engineers (Boucher et al., 2017).”

“There are also a number of intervention techniques in the literature that are designed to help students perceive that particular career paths help others and serve communal goals (see Boucher et al., 2017, for review).”

“Thus, both men and women who value communal goals may exhibit less interest in STEM careers if they believe that these careers do not fulfill their valued communal goals (Boucher et al. 2017).”

“Besides their influence on sex roles within and outside the family, these attributes would influence also women’s interest and suitability to work in STEM (Boucher et al., 2017; Diekman et al., 2017).”

“…from faculty discussing or designing assignments that demonstrate the communal nature of computing and the social applications of computing skills more explicitly (Engage CS Edu, n.d), which maps onto prior research discussing how communal goals might align with STEM careers (Boucher et al., 2017).”

“In particular, Digital Forensic Science and Cybersecurity are oriented to helping others deal with real-world problems (Boucher et al., 2017) and tap into the potential that young women “may be more attracted to science and technology related careers that involve complex social issues and societal…”

“…of reciprocity keeps with previous scholarship that suggests communal goals of collaboration and helping others can benefit first-generation college and students from minoritized communities, many of whom hold communal orientations to engineering (Barajas-Lo´pez & Bang, 2018; Boucher et al., 2017).”

“Moreover, most studies in this area involved samples from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD; Henrich et al., 2010) countries (e.g., Allen et al., 2021; Boucher et al., 2017).”

“…within an engineering context aligned with a push from the engineering education fi eld to design inclusive engineering spaces that center communal goals and helping others with the aim of inviting more women and girls to the fi eld (Boucher et al. , 2017, for a longer discussion of communal goals).”

“Linking youth’s interests to activities and learning allows them to better sustain their engagement and deepen their understanding (Billington et al., 2019; Boucher et al., 2017).”

“students [30].”

“In contrast, emerging scientists from backgrounds excluded from STEM who perceive a misalignment between their own prosocial values and that of the field are more likely to be deterred from STEM careers (reviewed in Boucher et al. , 2017).”

“…to these effects (e.g., the degree to which they are affected by organizational culture as well as broader ideologies) and their role in advancing (or else hindering) a range of organizational and societal goals (e.g., of diversity and inclusion; Boucher et al., 2017; Lagowska et al., 2023).”

“This is consistent with the ‘lack of fit’ model by Heilman [19, 20] by which women, when comparing their own characteristics and competencies with job requirements, might regard occupations described with stereotypically male characteristics less attractive due to the incongruity with self-perception [18, 21, 22].”

“Furthermore, a number of studies show that students from un-derrepresented groups are more likely to consider societal or community benefit in their choice of major [102–105].”

“Yet, the recruitment of communally-oriented men into these roles also has the potential to disrupt public perceptions of STEM as lacking communality (Boucher et al., 2017).”

“Previous studies have combined elements from these theories to study educational and career outcomes (e.g., Boucher et al., 2017; Guo et al., 2015; Lauermann et al., 2015, 2017b; Nagy et al., 2006; Parker et al., 2012b), but this is the first study to focus on key assumptions across all five…”

“Emphasizing and nurturing equity ethic in students has been suggested by many studies as a way for STEM fields to recruit and retain more people, particularly URGs (Boucher et al., 2017; Garibay, 2015; Thoman et al., 2015).”

“Both the social relevance and the linkages correspond to the two elements of communal culture (Boucher et al., 2017).”

“…value orientation predicts greater interest in activities that help other people (Brown et al. 2015, Diekman et al. 2015, Thoman et al. 2015, Boucher et al. 2017), including mentoring and service activities that support underrepresented students (Williams and Dempsey 2014, Matthew 2016,…”

“Applying this analytical lens led to the discovery that many individuals, and especially women and minoritized individuals, valued communal goals (e.g., using their work to help others), but that students do not perceive such communal goals as central to many STEM fields (Boucher et al. , 2017).”

“Students may believe STEM subjects to be stable and rigid (Holmegaard, Madsen, and Ulriksen 2014) or that STEM careers provide fewer chances of helping people or collaborating with others (Boucher et al. 2017), which could be an inhibitor of their positive attitudes toward STEM.”

“…students to state altruistic and community-oriented motivations for pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)  elds, 7,12 – 14 and yet, most graduate STEM programs include little curricular discussion of science's inequitable impacts on historically excluded communities…”

“This finding, therefore, puts into question the notion of highlighting the broad societal relevance of engineering to attract women to engineering [9,12,18].”

“…cultural stereotypes associate math and technol - ogy-intensive fields more strongly with geeky and masculine traits and interests, and less with communal traits (e.g., caring, compassionate, and helpful to others and society) (Berg et al., 2018; Boucher et al., 2017 ; Diekman & Steinberg, 2013).”

“…predicts stronger academic motivation and persistence (Destin & Williams, 2020; Rivas-Drake, Seaton, et al., 2014; Umaña-Taylor, 2011), and they are more likely to pursue scientific research careers when STEM fields afford the achievement of communal and prosocial goals (Boucher et al., 2017).”

“Interventions designed to highlight the alignment between stereotypically masculine careers and communal goals increases STEM-specific (Boucher et al., 2017; Diekman et al., 2017) and general academic performance and persistence in among women and underrepresented college students (Boucher et al., 2017) and do not dis…”

“Since women generally prioritize communal over agen-tic career goals, this perception may discourage persistence in male-dominated fields (Boucher et al., 2017; Heilman, 1983).”

“Although girls perform as well as, or better than, boys in school-based math and science assessments, gender disparities in STEM engagement and career trajectories remain persistent (Boucher et al., 2017; Wang & Degol, 2017).”

“Bio-inspired design, the development of technologies to improve the environment or human quality of life [2], provides a relevant and engaging learning space to explore how holistic assets can support innovation.”

“We tailored the conversation to each participant’s top-ranked value because girls often express communal and prosocial values (Block et al., 2018a, 2018b) and may see STEM fields as incongruous with these communal goals (Boucher et al., 2017; Diekman et al., 2010).”

“…the knowledge and skills they develop may be useful in other contexts or in the future, only CURE in-structors can reference how students’ scientific results could make a difference in the world (Boucher et al. , 2017; Hanauer et al. , 2017; Fuhrmeister et al. , 2021; Dunbar-Wallis et al. , 2024).”

“…self-recognition as a scientist [14, 149–151], how STEM projects framed as beneficial to society can support STEM learning and retention for students with communal goals [106, 152], and the value to students in developing project ownership, a commitment and personal connection with a project [148].”

“With the common misconception that STEM fields are not direct contributors to communal goals (Boucher et al., 2017), there could be a collection of women avoiding the industry as they do not believe it will fit their motivational needs.”

“The common belief that STEM careers do not afford opportunities for communal engagement is also thought to shape how Black and Hispanic students to perceive that their values are not consistent with those of STEM career models (Bonilla et al., 2023; Boucher et al., 2017).”

“Publicly and explicitly acknowledging the communal opportunities in science could help FGS reconceptualize the collaborative nature of the discipline (Boucher et al. , 2017).”

“Our suggestion builds on prior work showing that students are likely to enroll in STEM majors that can them to make a positive impact on the world (Boucher et al., 2017; Zahry & Besley, 2017).”

“For example, the communal and helping goals of female science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students has been found to be stronger than male students [1, 2].”

“helping others) that women are more likely to endorse (Diekman et al. 2010; Boucher et al. 2017), and less perceived self-efficacy in women, although recent results show no gender differences in self-efficacy (Mueller and Dato-On, 2008).”

“BIPOC students’ persistence in STEM majors is portrayed in the literature through discussions on the structural inequities that constrict those students’ access to STEM (Hubbard & Stage, 2009; National Science Foundation [NSF], 2017), participation (Boucher et al., 2017; Foltz et al., 2014), completion (Okahana et al.”

“…for minoritized individuals, ‘communal motivation’ (a drive to connect, care, and share with others) tends to play a stronger role in their decisions around goals than ‘agentic motivation’ (concerns of the self in terms of one’s status, achievement, and independence) (Boucher et al. 2017, 2).”